Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons in good standing after NBA all-star voting first returns

Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons' Twitter campaigns to make the all-star game seem to be off to a good start, considering their position among Eastern Conference players after the NBA all-star voting first returns were released today.

Embiid, who is averaging 23.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game this season, was ranked third among Eastern Conference front court players. He only trailed Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James. Through 12 days of voting, Embiid has about 60,000 votes on Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis and more than 200,000 on Cavs power forward Kevin Love.

The NBA's All-Star Game format this year will allow 12 players from each conference onto each team. Fans account for 50 percent of the votes, the other 50 is divided between players and a media panel. The leading vote-receiver from each conference will be given rights to choose his team, but starters will be pre-determined by the results.

There will be three frontcourt players and two guards chosen for each starting lineup, meaning Embiid currently has a decent chance of starting in the game.

Reserves will be chosen by the coaches, so Ben Simmons may have some catching up to do in order to be a lock after voting.

The voting can be done on Twitter with the hashtag #NBAVote. Retweets count as votes.